2012 U.S. Championships News
By Mike Klein
SAINT LOUIS, May 8, 2012 -- The 2012 U.S. Chess Championship and U.S. Women's Championship began in the most serene setting, belying the pressure that will mount over the next two weeks.
The opening ceremony and drawing of lots took place outside the Missouri Botanical Garden on Monday evening. After the players enjoyed a cocktail reception and were introduced, they took turns selecting their random starting assignments. Then they hurriedly boarded the bus back to their hotels to prepare for the first game.
The tournament begins Tuesday, May 8, and concludes Saturday, May 19, with a possible playoff on May 20. The top 12 players in the country will play in an 11-game round robin to decide the title of U.S. Champion. Grandmaster Gata Kamsky will attempt to defend his title and win his third consecutive championship, a feat not accomplished since GM Walter Browne in the 1970s.
The top 10 female players will play a nine-game round robin. Woman Grandmaster and International Master Anna Zatonskih will attempt to repeat. In 2011, using a different format, it took her 19 grueling games to wrap up the victory.
“It represents the best that America has produced,” said Tony Rich, executive director of the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis. The club is hosting its fourth straight U.S. Championship and U.S. Women's Championship.
Club founder Rex Sinquefield highlighted some other local chess news. Earlier in the day, the Chess Club and the World Chess Hall of Fame, located across the street from the club, unveiled the world's largest chess piece. The white king, made up of layers of ¾-inch exterior grade plywood, stands more than 14 feet tall, weighs more than 2,200 pounds and is approximately the height of an average female giraffe.
More than 70 students from Saint Louis language Immersion School took a field trip to the Chess Club and Hall of Fame to witness the unveiling of the world record and to tour both facilities. The students got the opportunity to play some of the competitors from the U.S. Championships. Throughout the day, competitors from both events visited area schools to put on simul exhibitions and to speak to students about the benefits of chess.
At the opening ceremony, Sinquefield also explained that local Lindenwood University would begin its chess program in the fall, which will include numerous scholarships for promising players and will be coached by the club's Grandmaster-in-Residence Ben Finegold. “We will have a lot of grandmasters living in Saint Louis,” Sinquefield said, also referencing the chess team about to begin at Webster University.
“We're so very, very proud to be the chess city of America,” said Saint Louis Mayor Francis Slay.
In the first round of the U.S. Championship, Varuzhan Akobian will play Yasser Seirawan, Yury Shulman will face Gregory Kaidanov, Alex Stripunsky will play Alexander Onischuk, Alex Lenderman plays Ray Robson, Gata Kamsky goes against Alejandro Ramirez, and top-seeded local Grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura plays Robert Hess. All 12 players are grandmasters, with Robson, 17, the youngest, and Kaidanov, 52, the senior statesman. Ramirez, a native of Costa Rica, is the only player competing in his first U.S. Championship. Robson will begin his college studies at Webster starting this fall.
In the women's event, play will begin with Viktorija Ni against Tatev Abrahmyan, Iryna Zenyuk against Alisa Melekhina, Irina Krush versus Sabina Foisor, Rusudan Goletiani against Camilla Baginskaite, and Anna Zatonskih facing Alena Katz. Ni and Katz are the two newcomers. Ni's husband is Shulman and Brooklynite Katz is the only member of either tournament that has yet to graduate high school. She took her SAT exam the day before flying to Saint Louis.
The total prize fund for the U.S. Championship is $160,000. If someone should score a perfect 11-0, the bonus “Fischer Prize” (so named because Bobby Fischer was the last to win every game) of $64,000 will be awarded. The women's purse is $64,000.
All games will commence at 1 p.m. local time. Spectators can visit the club or watch the action live with commentary at www.uschesschamps.com.
Chris Bird, the chief Arbiter for the 2012 U.S. Championship and U.S. Women's Championship, is an International Arbiter (awarded 2010) and USCF National Tournament Director (awarded 2012). He has directed at numerous major events across the U.S., including the 2009 U.S. Championship, the 2007, 2009 and 2010 U.S. Women’s Championships, 2010 U.S. Junior Closed Championship and various National Scholastic events. Chris has directed at more than 200 events over the past 10 years and most recently was the chief arbiter for the Kings vs. Queens event held at the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis.
As well as being an arbiter, Chris is also well known for his chess website work and providing live broadcasts and onsite coverage at major events such as the World Open, Chicago Open and North American Open. Chris has been the bulletin editor at the Las Vegas International Chess Festival (National Open) since 2004 and has authored articles and provided photography for Chess Life, Chess Life Online and New in Chess. Chris is also a former president and board member of Nevada Chess, Inc. and former general secretary and league secretary of the Hull and District Chess Association.
Born and raised in Hull, England, Chris moved to Las Vegas, Nevada, in 1998 and has lived in the U.S. ever since, currently residing near Boston, Massachusetts, where his full-time occupation is as an administrator at Harvard Medical School.
Tony Rich, the assistant arbiter for the 2012 U.S. Championship and U.S. Women’s Championship, is a FIDE Arbiter (2011) and USCF Senior Tournament Director (2011). He has served as an arbiter and director for various events including the U.S. Championship (2010, 2011), U.S. Women’s Championship (2010, 2011) , U.S. Junior Championship (2010, 2011), U.S. Open (2010), and an international match between GM Hikaru Nakamura and GM Rusulan Ponomariov. Most recently, Tony was the chief arbiter for two GM-norm tournaments held at the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis.
In addition to work as a tournament director and arbiter, Tony is one of only 20 FIDE International Organizers in America. In this role he has successfully organized major events including three U.S. Championships, three U.S. Women’s Championships, two U.S. Junior Closed Championships, international matches and a variety of other high-level tournaments.
Tony has traveled extensively since 2008, serving as the head of delegation for the American teams at the FIDE Olympiad and World Team Championships. He is a member of the FIDE Swiss Pairing Program Committee and the USCF International Relations Committee. In 2009 and again in 2010, the U.S. Chess Federation recognized Tony as the Organizer of the Year.
Tony is an amateur photographer and journalist and has covered many events including the 2010 World Team Championship (Bursa, Turkey), 2011 FIDE Olympiad (Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia) and 2011 World Team Championship (Ningbo, China). His contributions can be seen in Chess Life Magazine, Chess Life Online and various chess websites. Tony also worked as the editor for the Missouri Chess Bulletin and has served on the MCA board of directors, on and off, since 2006.
A native of Saint Louis, Missouri, Tony is currently the Executive Director of the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis. During his four years in this role, he took the club from concept to inception and saw involvement grow to 800 members and nearly 100 schools across the Saint Louis area.
SAINT LOUIS, February 22, 2012 -- The fields are set for both the 2012 U.S. Championship and 2012 U.S. Women’s Championship, scheduled to be held simultaneously May 7 through May 20 in Saint Louis. Grandmaster Gata Kamsky and International Master Anna Zatonskih each look to defend their respective titles against strong and determined fields.
For the fourth consecutive year, these prestigious events will be held at Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis (CCSCSL).
The 2012 U.S. Championship will feature an elite field of 12 grandmasters and a guaranteed prize fund of more than $160,000. With an average USCF rating of 2714 according to the USCF’s January rating supplement, this marks the strongest field in the history of the event.
After sitting out of the 2011 U.S Championship, GM Hikaru Nakamura, ranked No. 6 in the world, has accepted an invitation to participate this year. Nakamura, 24, is seeking his third U.S. Championship title. GM Yasser Seirawan, who came out of retirement to play in last year’s U.S. Championship, has accepted the final invitation for the U.S. Championship. Seirawan had a stellar performance at the 2011 World Team Championship in Ningbo, China, where he defeated three top-30 players on his way to a silver medal performance.
The field for the 2012 U.S. Championship is as follows:
- GM Hikaru Nakamura (2848)
- GM Gata Kamsky (2804)
- GM Alexander Onischuk (2736)
- GM Yasser Seirawan (2723)
- GM Robert Hess (2717)
- GM Varuzhan Akobian (2709)
- GM Alexander Stripunsky (2700)
- GM Ray Robson (2674)
- GM Alejandro Ramirez (2668)
- GM Yury Shulman (2666)
- GM Aleksandr Lenderman (2665)
- GM Gregory Kaidanov (2658)
The CCSCSL also will sponsor the “$64K Fischer Bonus,” to be awarded to anyone that scores a perfect 11-0 in the U.S. Championship, in honor of Bobby Fischer’s 11-0 result at the 1963-64 U.S. Championship.
Woman Grandmaster (WGM) Camilla Baginskaite, the 2000 U.S. Women’s Champion, and 17-year-old Alena Kats, who was the youngest female to become a master in 2010 at age 15, have accepted the final two invitations for the Women’s event. The 2012 U.S. Women’s Championship will feature a guaranteed prize fund of $64,000 and 10 players, including:
- IM Anna Zatonskih (2563)
- IM Irina Krush (2500)
- WGM Camilla Baginskaite (2419)
- WGM Sabina Foisor (2413)
- WGM Tatev Abrahamyan (2350)
- WIM Viktorija Ni (2349)
- IM Rusudan Goletiani (2337)
- FM Alisa Melekhina (2321)
- WIM Iryna Zenyuk (2298)
- NM Alena Kats (2233)
Tickets for the opening ceremony, which will take place on May 7, and the closing ceremony, scheduled for May 20, will be available soon. Round one for each event begins on May 8.
The U.S. Championship and the U.S. Women’s Championship will both be classic round-robin tournaments, in which each participant will play every other participant exactly once.
For more information, visit www.uschesschamps.com, or call (314) 361-CHESS (2437).